Madison Gets Her Book

Last spring, my granddaughter, Madison (I call her Miss Magoo) asked me to write a book she could read. In keeping with my genre, I wrote a mystery suitable for third graders on up. The Title is "Who is the Bully". It stars the daughter of one of my adult detectives Maggie Johnson, daughter of Prof. Bob Johnson. I kept my Miss Magoo in the dark about it being finished. On December 9, 2013, her mom, Renee and I stopped by her class with the approval of her teacher and the school principal. Of course, she didn't know we were coming. We interrupted their reading time.

I presented the book to her in front of her classmates, to her total surprise. Her teacher asked if I would read a couple of chapters for her class. Which I did. I gave a copy to the Library and now all her classmates want to check it out to read.

Here are a couple of photos. The first one is of me and Madison looking at me as I am reading. The second is of her class, with Ms. Johnson, her teacher behind her and I.

Just Arrived

Yesterday, UPS delivered my first copies of my new book, Who is the Bully.

Please stop by my Website and order your copies today. Or if you go out to Amazon and get the paperback as a gift you can download a free copy for your Kindle. Here are the links: Scott Hendricks Author or Amazon . It is also available in other electronic formats. And soon to be available in all book stores.

Writing is a Lonely Sport

I woke up at 4:00 AM, rolled over saw the time, went back to sleep. Woke up again it was 4:10. Tried to sleep some more -- alas I figured it was fruitless because my mind was racing with ideas for my new mystery novel I am writing. So I am up with coffee in my hand or at least close by writing.

Writing is such a lonely sport. It is you, your pen and the ideas swimming around upstairs. Your hand is moving in compulsively, too bad most of the time it cannot keep up with the commands of the brain, especially if you want to read it later on. It is as if the mind is feeding off the flow of an unseen spring.

It is quiet. Lynda and our beagle, Roxy are still sleeping. It is a perfect time to let the mind roam that thin line where reality decides to step aside for a little while and let the pool of fresh ideas spill forth, only to be refilled anon.

I surely hope you all have a wonderful day and not filled with murder and mayhem like my mind is doing early on a Monday morning!

Mentor a Young Writer

I encourage all of you to mentor a young writer. In this day of truncated words, abbreviations that can barely be understood without a lexicon of texting in your back pocket and less face to face time, it is important to preserve the English Language. How as writers do we accomplish this? We write, and write, and write some more, until that final sentence before our maker calls us home. We can also help a young writer to find their words.

Why is that important, you may ask? We owe a debt to our readers to bring forth a fresh voice and new way to look at the world. You may ask what is the reward? If you have to ask that then you aren’t ready to mentor. The rewards are enormous and some are even self-fulfilling. For me, the reward is watching a young person grow and to find their words. For me, the reward is having someone to share with ideas, thoughts, and dreams; and then to have some shared with you. For me, the reward is keeping me writing — even if it is one word, one sentence, one paragraph, one page, one chapter. It keeps my pen moving and the ideas flowing. It also keeps me young.

How does it keep us young? I am sixty-four years young. I like to tell everyone that I am twenty-one; but the body just isn’t cooperating. Hearing new fresh ideas, helps to keep my ideas fresh and new. As you already know, my granddaughter asked me to write a book she could read. I have used my two young protégés to review my first children’s book to make sure it is age appropriate and touches on subjects that they can relate to. Both the mentor and the protégé end up winning in the relationship. To see how this works, I recommend that everyone who loves to write watch the following movie: Finding Forrester staring Sean Connery and Rob Brown. It is probably at the top of my list of favorite movies that I have seen.

Thank you, Jacob and Maggie for letting me help you find your words. You can’t begin to imagine how much it has helped me to keep mine fresh and flowing.

Book Signing August 25, 2013 You are Invited

My books have arrived and I am all set for my book signing event at Zandbroz Variety in Downtown Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA on August 25, 2013 from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM.

The Power of Our Words

As wordsmiths we play, arrange and inspire with the words we so love. I would be lost if I could not write and read. I am going to share with you just how powerful these words can be -- Remember, it is not what we say; it is all about how we say it. Please view the video!

"The Power of Words"

Become a Literary Pathologist

This past week, I have been focused on being a reader. Since Monday, March 4, 2013 I have read three books. I really enjoyed the stories; but more than that I spent the time looking at how the story was written from a reader’s point of view.

So, I ask you (my readers) when was the last time you dissected a book? When was the last time you were a Literary Pathologist? Then, when was the last time you applied that to your own work?

Remember, we are not only writers! We are dreamers, weavers, bards, teller of tall tales, wordsmiths, publicists, publishers, business owners, and marketing departments. It is our responsibility for putting a product on the market that the reading public wants to read. If we don’t do that, we are being dishonest with ourselves and our art. Sure there is that altruistic notion that why don’t we do art for art sake.

I propose, we smiths of the written word have an obligation to those who are readers of the written word. In today’s world and unlike the world up through the first half of the 20th Century, art will remain undiscovered if we the artist does not promote our art and produce art that the reading public wants to read. We all have our genre of what we like to read and what we like to write. Get to know your genres as well as you know yourself. Don’t forget to research what works and what does not work within your genre.

As wordsmiths, our art is the weaving of the story that is rattling around that orb we call a skull. I feel a wealth of stories bouncing off the inside of my cranium with unrelenting potency. Our job is not to reinvent the stories. Our job to weave it in such a way our readers will draw themselves into the story. We have to respect our readers.

Our art requires us as artists to make our stories interesting and moving forward at all times. I enjoin you all to become Literary Pathologists. Without pathology of the written word, we become a self-indulged bore. Let’s find what stimulates our reader’s appetites!

How to Improve Your Writing

I have found a way to improve my writing and my restraint!

How many of us writers, authors, poets write feverishly and quickly so we don't lose our ideas and flow? I would argue most of us. When I have my journal out and pen in hand, the ideas flood my mind. In turn, I have been guilty of trying to get as many of those ideas down on paper before they are lost. Wrong approach! Even when we are flushing our ideas, we need to keep control on the flood gates. In other words, we need to practice discipline.

As most of you already know, I have been writing a book age appropriate 9 - 12 age range. I have found that even while writing the first draft, I am practicing discipline and restraint. Those ideas that escape the flood gates, I have either filed away or jotted down in a word document indicating where the idea belongs in the book. Just the act of writing the idea down somewhere has proven to be useful. It has helped me to keep the flow of the body of the book going forward, but not too quickly. I call the process, letting the words ferment from grape juice to wine.

I have found that writing a children's book has re-introduced me to tight writing. I have had to slow down and think about every word, every phrase, every paragraph as I am writing. My mother was a high school teacher and a voracious reader. She passed that love of learning on to her children. What surprised all of my friends, my sisters and I were allowed to read what ever book was on my parents book shelves. The only requirement was to understand and be able to apply what I was reading to my daily life. Needless to say I ended up with a very large vocabulary. So, with my new venture, it is a struggle to use words that children 9 - 12 will understand. I am not dumbing down the ideas. I am just couching then differently. I am not rushing to load the front end of the book. I find that I am leading them on an adventure that is within reach of their world.

How many of us have started a project, only to shelf it later on because it is not working. I have an idea, try writing it for a preteen. Take your time to get from chapter 1 to chapter 5 and then from chapter 5 to chapter 10. I have found it helps me with developing the character of my protagonists and antagonists and everyone associated with them. It has allowed me to add interesting twists and turns. It has taught me a valuable lesson to keep within the speed limit. I am figuring out that I have stopped over using words and to properly structure my sentences. It has made me more conscious of keeping vernacular out of my writing. As a reader, the only vernacular I want to see is in occasional dialogue, not in the text of the story.

I challenge my fellow writers to write your first draft as if you are writing it for a third or fourth grader. I tried that on a short story and then on the second draft, I expanded on the vocabulary, the story line and fleshed out the ideas even more and made it adult appropriate. I suspect we authors are a very unusual bunch of people. I suspect we were all reading adult novels at a very young age. I am really enjoying getting back to the basics and as I sleep or take a break, my mind works on the fermenting process. I highly recommend the process. It is a good way to keep us humble and to keep our writing habits healthy.

The Beginning and the End of "Broken Bones and Broken Dreams"

I am writing my first ever children's book. I am having a blast doing it. My arm cannot keep up with the thoughts as the flood gates have opened as wide as they possibly can go. The theme is about bullys and parental abuse. It starts off with broken bones on a friend of the heroine, Magdalena "Maggie" Johnson -- the daughter of my adult mystery series protagonist. One of her dreams is shattered by her finding out that family life for others was not always like her own and that homes are not always a good and safe place to be. But, she learns how to make it better one home at a time. I have decided to share the first paragraph and last paragraph of the book.

Paragraph #1
Dinner at the house of Bob and Vickie Johnson was normally a noisy time for the family. Magdalena, their daughter who everyone called Maggie was always talking. She was the only child of Mr. & Mrs. Johnson. Maggie was nine years old. She talked about everything she could think of during dinner. Not this time, Maggie was sad and barely said two words.

Last Paragraph of the book:

Dinner at the house of Bob and Vickie Johnson was normally a noisy time for the family. Magdalena, their daughter who everyone called Maggie was always talking. She was the only child of Mr. & Mrs. Johnson. Maggie was nine years old. She talked about everything she could think of during dinner. Not this time, Maggie had her friends Brad, Jenny, Mike and their families over for a barbeque in her backyard. All four were speaking, laughing and playing. This time they had two others joining their fun, former school bully Randy and his side-kick, Steve. The parents talked about how much the power of the kid’s friendship accomplished.

I Did It -- Here Begins a Childrens Book

Alas, I didn't get any prompts for my first foray into a children's book from my yesterday post. So after a busy day of cheering for my favorite drivers in the Daytona 500 (both lost but both lead for a while during the race) ant then I helping my wife muck out a storage closet at her work, I turned it over to my muse to give me some help. I prayed for a beginning before going to bed and Mary picked up on some of the ideas that I thought would be good from my responses. Overnight, Mary gave me a great idea using those wonderful ideas from my friends.

The heroine is going to be Magdalena 9 year old daughter of one of the protagonists from detective series, Johnson-Ingram Detectives. It is going to cover four primary issues: apathy, assuming guilt without facts, bullying, and parental abuse. These are all issues that children face on a regular basis. We all know who the playground bully is in our lives. We all fail to act on what we know; sometimes from the fear of reprisal. I think we have all been guilty of assigning guilt before all the evidence is in and processed. We all know that parental abuse occurs; but we are afraid to get involved or we don't think it's our place to get involved.

These are universal in scope and not just relegated to children issues. We learn by what we see growing up. We also learn by what our friends go through and sometimes we don't ask our friends what is going on in their lives. I had friends growing up who would always come to school bruises, a cut, a broken bone. I never associated that with home life, as my parents only violence against us as children was an occasional spanking (that in hind sight was not a bad thing). It never occurred to me that home was not a safe place to be.

For my book purposes, I completed the prologue this morning after reading the newspaper, and over a cup of coffee. I heard a door slamming and it prompted an idea and I started writing. I wrote; and then wrote some more. The words just kept flowing from Mary my muse to my arm to my hand and finally to the flow of the ink in my journal. I had trouble keeping up with the flood of words. The prologue is a kid hearing a drunk parent coming home from a night out with friends. It is his perspective of what he as a child of an abusive parent goes through. My wife and I have volunteered at a domestic violence shelter and listening to the children stories are burned in my memory forever and ever. I just hope there is never an Amen to those stories. I already have Chapter 01 racing through the synapses of my brain fleshing out the words and how to get the heroine involved in her friends tragic home life and the trials she goes through. Luckily her father is Bob Johnson, college English professor and partner in the Johnson-Ingram Consulting Group. Johnson-Ingram is really a detective agency and crime consulting group that has world wide scope.

Ah, for the adventures my mind take me on without having to leave home!

I Have Been Asked

Here is an interesting conundrum; my granddaughter Madison (my Miss Magoo and muse for portrait photography) has asked me to write a children's book. Needless to say, I asked, "Are you serious?"

Her response, "Yes! You tell such wonderful stories, Papa."

How does one not fulfill a request such as that? So the first question I asked myself was of course, how does a mystery author write a children's book. I say to myself, aren't they full of fairies, wizards, princesses, princes, and those sorts of things? Now here is the conundrum, I write about the cruelty of man. I write about blood, gore, and numerous varied ways one person can kill another person. In other words, I let my mind run amuck in the bowels of society to come up with pretty sick and depraved characters. How does that equate to writing a children's book?

I let that sit in my barrel of ideas and let it ferment for the past week and a half. I have let it cure and mature. Then my muse came to me during my sleeping hours one night and gave me a clue. She didn't give me the whole scenario. She didn't even give me a prompt line to start with. She gave a hint, a small idea, like I said a clue.

I am going to try to write a book about Magdalena (or Maggy for short) the girl detective. I will leave out the blood, the gore and full description about how someone is murdered. I may make it about house break-ins, or a thief at school, or daring jewel thief. I will base the main character after my granddaughter, who is very athletic, smart, and has nerves of steel. Of course she is going to have hair that glows like copper in the sunlight just like Miss Magoo's does and have eyes the color of Tiger Eye gemstones, the same as Miss Magoo.

Please respond:
I would like to know if something like this would work? If you think this would work, then give me a word, a phrase or a sentence as a prompt. I will choose the prompt that causes me to blurt out, "Oh Yeah! That's it!"

Where Do Your Ideas Come From?

I like most author's heads have heads filled with idea, image, places, characters, plots, themes, weather, personal interaction and much, much more. We just have to tap into our minds. Right!

My son is a cop! We have been friends with law enforcement officers all our lives. As a child, where I grew up in Sacramento, California my next door neighbor was Heman G. Stark. He rose through the ranks of the Los Angeles Police Department and ultimately ended up appointed as the Director the California State Youth Authority. My great-grandfather, William Chalmers Hendricks was the first Director of the Board of Prisons for the State of California. A close friend of my parents was Sacramento County Sheriff. Through my son's interest in law enforcement from an early age, I have become friends with quite a number of Police Officers and Detectives with the City of Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Needless to say, I am surrounded by people who are involved in one way or another with law enforcement. Add that to interests in History, Social Anthropology, the English Language and solving puzzles and mysteries; it doesn't take much to understand how my mind works. I have also always had this need to understand why man is so damned cruel to their fellow man. It is beyond my comprehension to intentionally hurt another human being, unless it was for self defense. As I read through the daily papers, listen to the daily news, I wonder what causes someone to do all sort of unspeakable acts against an other human. Then I like the chase. My TV watching is usually around programs like Criminal Minds, The First 48 Hours, The Following, CSI shows, etc. I realize that they are condensed for poetic license and time constraints.

As you can imagine, the stories I write center around a common and ordinary citizen doing the unthinkable and what it takes to get that person identified and removed from the streets. In most cases, my suspects use items that can be purchased at any discount store to commit their evil acts. In other situations, the criminal may be known, it is the locating and the personal interaction with that character that becomes the story.

Like all other writers, I need a catalyst to bring that story out of the file cabinet of my mind. Remember, it is still a mystery as to whom was really responsible for the greatest murder in all of history. Was it Pontius Pilate? Was it Herod Antipater (Antipas)? Was it the Pharisees? Was it the Centurion known as Longinus Gais? Two thousand years later it remains unsolved, except in the individual mind contemplating that cruel murder. Boy, do I like a good mystery! Sometimes, I am prodded by my muse, sometimes it is something I see or hear, and then it may be a good writing prompt. I then write a prologue. If that prologue causes me to write chapter one and two, then I have a story.

Let Life Get In Your Way

In most jobs we are told to avoid letting life get in your way. Your boss doesn't want it to influence your performance. Your boss is afraid that you may not follow company policy. Your boss may feel that it will influence your decisions that may be counter productive to the company's position or overall goals. That is great if you have a job that opens a store front every morning at the same time and is dependent upon having a daily flow of customers use their services.

We on the other hand are creators. Sure we want a daily flow of customers to buy our books. That is why we hire book sellers to the day to day grind of selling our books. Our job is to create and to attract the customer to the store. The actual selling takes place at the store whether is be an E-Store or a bricks and mortar store. It is these places that actually processes the transaction for a percentage of the profits.

As creators, what is our job? Our job is to write a book, a poem, a short story, a movie, a play that someone wants to read. What does our customer want to read? In some cases they want to read to escape the reality of their lives. Some people like to read to see how life is on the other side of the fence. While others like to solve mysteries; and yet others like to read what happened a hundred years ago.

What is the common denominator? It is what we observe. It is what we hear. It is places we go. When we add that all together it is life or you may say life experiences. As writers, it is very important that we let life happen and that we be a part of it on a daily basis. You cannot be a hermit and write a good novel that speaks to universal truths; because it won't strike a cord with the reader. There is a line from the movie "Finding Forrester" where Sean Connery's character William Forrester says, "Writers write things to give readers something to read." Readers like to know that they are not alone in this world.

The past two days, life has gotten in my way. First, I have had the intestinal flu. Yippee, that really made me feel wonderful. Secondly, we have some friends who live about six doors to the east of us. Our boys played together up to high school and then remained friends even though their lives went in completely different directions. Neither grew up without flaws. I am the last person who will complain about others having their own flaws; because I am flush with them, myself. It is these flaws that make life interesting. Back to the story, my son's friend and the son of my wife's and my friends, died in a terrible automobile accident on Wednesday. It was Troy's fault. It was a seven car pile up at arguably the busiest intersection in the State of South Dakota. Troy died at the scene. What makes this whole interaction take on the surreal is that we learned who the victim of the crash was from our son who lives in Minnesota. The police were being very tight lipped. We still don't know and may never know why Troy was traveling on a city street at rates of 60 to 100 miles per hour. That's life in today's world. For certain, as soon as we heard who it was, we stopped by our friend's house.

You may ask how these events help us as writers? We file these events away in that file drawer we call events. We file these away in that file drawer we call character traits. We use them over and over and over, again. Our characters, our heroes in our books are not perfect and flawless human beings. One of my main characters in my Johnson-Ingram Detective novels is Frank Ingram. He has his demons and he is constantly trying to drown those demons with either Scotch or Jack Daniels. He is constantly being saved by all the quirky friends who surround him, especially his wife Missy. Missy is one of us. She is a creator, a photographer who sees life through the lens of a camera, even when the camera is nowhere around. I think we all know people like this, flawed, imperfect, colorful, quirky. We call them friends, relatives, acquaintances.

Life makes a perfect palette of colors that we can use on our canvas that we call the written page. So for we creators, I say we need to let life get in our way so we can produce something that our readers can put themselves into and become a part of the story.

How Do You Begin Your Books?

Authors are all unique and a one of a kind character. Don't you wish you had a character in your next book who was exactly like you? In my case, I wouldn't wish that upon anyone! That lead me to the question that began this blog post: How do you begin your books? In other words not only how do you get your ideas; but how do you get started, how do you decide on the first word, the first sentence, the first paragraph? All those items sets the tone for the rest of your book. Do you get an idea and started making an outline? Do you just sit down and start writing or typing and see what comes up? Do you plan every action of the characters? Do you get a list of characters and their personalities as you see them and begin to see how you can get them to react to one another?

In all honesty, I would really like to see how many responses we get. I am willing to bet that for each response, we will see something as different and as unique as is the author. I think this will be a fun exercise and it will help all of us to get to know one another!

So to get this started, I will begin with me. As a writer of mystery novels, I like to set the reader-hook with a good prologue. In most cases I like to have my readers slip into the proverbial shoes of the current victim. It may well be the first victim or it may be the tenth or twentieth victim. If I can get the reader to feel the emotions and the pain of the victim, they are going to want to solve the mystery with me. They are going to want to right the wrong against that person be it male or female.

How do I get started with my idea and the first words to begin the story? I like timed writings and prologues. I belong to a writers group that meets about two to three times per month. I think I have mentioned this before. As part of our meetings we do timed writings. We either do them for fifteen minutes or twenty minutes. At the end of that time we set our pens down. Where it gets interesting is we then read them to the group. The group is small, which is what the four of us like. Each of us has a different genre we like for our writing. We have Jason a how to guru. pilot and children stories. We have Bob who is a play write and has a real dry wit about him. We have Tim who is an ex-Ranger with the U.S. Army who likes to write military intrigue and prairie stories about growing up in South Dakota. And, then me, who likes mysteries and historical fiction.

I keep a gallon size Ziploc bag with slips of paper with phrases, lines from songs, places; and we each pick one to use for our timed writing. Last night, Tuesday, February 12, 2013, I go a prompt that would have suited Jason a bit better. I took it and I ran with it. As I told the group, I took this some place that Jason would have never dreamed of going with it. My prompt was "Out on Runway Number Nine". This is a line from a Gordon Lightfoot song. Of course my warped mind asked the simple question, "How can I kill somebody and tie it in with an airport runway, more specifically runway #9?"

I did it and it is going to make a wonderful prologue to my next book. I feel the urge, to get started right now. I have the characters building. I see another Johnson-Ingram Detective Novel emerging. And, since I need to back up, rethink and retool the first seven chapters of "Pagan Mirth" ; I just may begin it tonight? What do you all think. Here are some excerpts from that timed writing to give you a flavor:

"Stranded! Alone! Strange Environment! Fog! Where the hell did this fog come from?...Why can't I move? I'm screaming! How come I don't hear anything?..."

"Why do I keep thinking of the Vitruvian Man?  Maybe because that is the way I feel right now -- legs pointing southeast and southwest, while my arms are pointed directly east and directly west..."

"Last I remember, I was on a plan waiting to take off out on runway number nine..."

"Did I spill something on my neck? It's warm! Why is it warm when I feel so damned cold? My mouth tastes like copper..."

"I feel something breathing on me. Oh Gawd does it stink! I feel teeth sinking into my leg. Oh, the pain! Please make it stop! I scream bloody murder for the pain! Still why don't I hear my screams? I hear snarling!..."

"I hear foot steps and voice yelling to scare off whatever bit me. Is this a rescue or my final breath?"

*** Let's hear from you for what works for you!***

Marketing Yourself

What services does a publishing company provide for you that you cannot do yourself? The answer is simple. You get the services of a person who knows how to market your book! It is nothing more nor nothing less!

So, how do you market yourself when you self-publish? First thing you do is run out and tell all your family members and then you run out and tell all your friends. Now, if you are really enterprising you will Tweet it and post it on Facebook. For most self-published authors, that is all that is going to happen. I hate to tell you what you just did was only step one. You might get 100 copies of your book sold.

There is more to this marketing. Next thing you do is to go by all the independent book stores in your city and surrounding area. Ask if they would be interesting in hosting a book signing. See if you can get an agreement on them purchasing your left-overs for their book shelves. Your self-publishing company will sell you copies of your book in print for cost. If they don't run away! The store will sell them at face value and you sell them to the bookstore at $2.00 to $3.00 over cost.

I suppose you are asking, what's next? Have you ever heard of a Press Release? Where is it written that you cannot send one out for you own book? The answer is clear, the media does not give rat's pa-toot who or from where a press release comes to land on their desk! They only care what it says to them!

Guess how easy it is to find them? It is as simple as typing "Book Press Release" in a Google search! I chose the following website to get my template: http://www.selfpub.info/templates/book-press-release-templates-and-examples.html -- Not only does it give you templates but it gives you some examples of well written Press Releases. Before you get started make sure you have a well written short bio. Remember that no one cares how old you are! They only care that you know how to write. They only care about your accomplishments. They only care why you are qualified to write what you did. The last thing to remember is that you are not trying to please yourself. You are writing to impress some else that your book is worthy of being read by the general public.

Once your Press Release is done, send it to every newspaper in your State. Send it to every newspaper in your native State, if you moved. Send it to every major news outlet in all the other states, picking out the largest markets first. Don't forget to send the Press Release to the library in your home town and town where you currently reside. If you know someone at a newspaper or library, hand deliver it.

Know Your Competition

Would you go to a heart surgeon if he hadn't read anything in his field of practice since he got his license? Would open a store without first checking out how other businesses conduct that business first? Would you go to a dentist who was still using equipment 45 years old?

Now I need to ask you, when was the last time you read a book by another author who writes in your genre?

I like to write murder mysteries and plan on writing an historical fiction account of my Great-Grandfather, William Chalmers Hendricks. I also love to read these types of books. Even while writing my own books, I have been known to read anywhere from one to three books per week. I have read the Gingrich & Forstchen accounts of the Civil War. My favorite authors range from Iris Johansen to John Sanford to Vince Flynn to Tess Gerritsen to David Baldacci to Preston & Child to Jeffery Deaver and many others. I also like to read the novels of those writers who only have one or two books published. This is like reading a professional journal in my field. It lets me know if I am on track or straying away from a tight novel. I can see how others handle dialog, character development and scene development.

It is important to know what your competition is doing. If you don't do that homework, your business may fail. I go so far to see how they write their acknowledgements, their dedication and Prologues. This is great stuff we need to know as writers.

How well do you hold up? Who are your competitors?

Tired of Being Rejected - Self Publish

I wrote River of Tears in 2006. I can wallpaper three of the larges rooms in my house with rejection notices. I continued to write while being rejected. My next book Theft of Innocence was also rejected, rejected, rejected. What did I do, I continued to write. Now by this time, I was at three books all getting rejection notices. Someone turned me on to Smashwords to get my books out as E-books. I did that but sales slacked.

My sister told me about Create Space a long time ago but told me that it was complicated; so I avoided it. Big mistake! A friend and member of my writer's group, Jason Gansen and I got together and figured out how to use it at the cost of $0.00. That is a budget I can live with real easily. The first book took some time to learn how they do things. They have articles of every aspect you can think of; from what type of font to use to book art. They have templates to use that can be modified to the your selected font. There is a free form template and a formatted template. As I am writing Pagan Mirth, I am using the formatted template. All I have to do is type the chapter name and then copy and paste the chapter body. I am real creative on chapter names: Prologue, Chapter 01, Chapter 02 ... Epilogue, etc. Use Doc, Docx avoid using a PDF format.

Make sure to have trusted friends and associates edit for content, spelling, grammar, general flow, etc. Make modifications they suggest; because you are too close in to see the mistakes. Then Create Space has a simple upload tool to Amazon.com. They will upload it to Kindle as well as paperback. When beginning I suggest using Amazon Select and they will push your work to the top. Then you need to figure out a marketing campaign. that is where the real work of being an author comes in. Nobody else is going to market your book and no one is going to do it better than you. Make sure when you price your book to price it so you get at least $1.00 royalty from each sale. Google Plus and Amazon Select let you run coupon sales to promote your book, too.

Jason and I have been meeting over coffee and mapping out a strategy for selling our books. So far it is working. First off you need to buy copies of your book from Create Space. They sell them to you at cost. The highest price I have paid is $4.47 per book. Make sure you distribute some to people you know and ask them to pass it on to friends and most importantly ask them to review it at Amazon with 5 stars and encourage them to pass that along with the book. So far I have spent to date $57.

You may ask how is that relating to sales. When I began the process at Create Space around January 20, 2013 my rank at Amazon.com for my genre was 632,588 roughly. Since I published my paperbacks and started to promote my book buy using Google Plus, word of mouth, linking my individual book pages out to Facebook both friends and public and to twitter, and I am still working on more sources right now. My best daily ranking since I started promoting was January 27 when I ranked 47,852. That is quite a jump in less than twenty days and so far all I have spent is $57.

Remember this is your business. Treat it like you are the CEO of a Fortune 500 company.

Roadblocks

As writers/arts we encounter a plethora of roadblocks to completing our projects from day one. Most of it by people who see the glass as half empty. They say you'll never make it; or that's an impossible field to break into, or that you will never stick with it; or that's for people who don't know how to work. How many of us have heard those word or had them slap us across the face? Those writers who give up, go home, trash the typewriter have become susceptible to the negative influence of other people. Zig Ziglar called that SNYOP. Don't let that happen to you. Just smile and walk away. I wrote my first story the summer of 1957 (summer school after 3rd grade). I was SNYOP'd until my 20's.

Another road block is what we call writer's block. Come on now! As writers we are never blocked, we just have a work slow down for retooling! If you feel that is what is happening write one word, one sentence, one paragraph; then walk away for a while. Keep coming back to write another word or sentence. I like the line Sean Connery uses in "Finding Forester" when he says, "No! Just start typing, thinking comes later." That sums up how we continue day in and day out. I have a sign above my desk, Thinking Comes Later, So Start Writing. It seems to work.

Yet, another road block is you need some specific information about a subject (which could really wait until later on) and you stop writing until that information shows up. As I was writing in my journal continuing Chapter 08 of Pagan Mirth, I came across the need to get my hands on a pre-flight check list a pilot goes through before starting and flying a small airplane. Sorry, I have Meniere's Disease and flying in small aircraft causes me to have extreme bouts of vertigo. Needless to say, I have no clue what a pilot must check on before stepping in the plane. I knew I had a source for that information and could find out easily, my friend Jason is a pilot and a writer. What did I do? I left a big space of about 6 lines and in parentheses I wrote, "Get List From Jason" and kept writing another three pages. Don't let these minor distractions stop the creative process, because those thought may never return to your conscience.

We all need to make a promise not to get SNYOP'd by any of these distractions; because that is Old Rex Mundi (The King of the World) playing tricks on you and causing mischief! I know you are better than that!

Recharge Your Batteries

We all work with a limited amount of resources. As writers we tend to abuse one of the most important sources we have at our disposal, energy. I have been known to burn the candle from both ends and at times I find that I light it in the middle, too. That puts a lot of stress on the process of creating and letting the words flow, in my case down my right arm to the pen hovering over my journal.

We all need to stop and get our batteries recharged. Most of my novels take place in the outdoors, the countryside, the wilderness and along creek, streams and rivers. Today, I took time out and went for a long walk along the bike trails in Sioux Falls, which ambles along the banks of Skunk Creek and the Big Sioux River as they meander about the city. My wife and I have a beagle named Roxy. She was my companion today as I walked probably five miles or so. I didn't measure the distance; because it just wasn't important. What was important was the scenery, the companionship of my dog, the wildlife, and the people I saw along the way. The geese, the ducks, the hawks and eagles were the same, but the faces of the people were not. The way the people walked and carried themselves was different, too. More fodder for my character book that I keep. The fresh air was wonderful and gave me something for description. The temperature was near 40 degrees on the Fahrenheit scale; which is highly unusual during February in South Dakota.

The next is sleep. Like my last few posts have shown, for me sleep is part of the writing process. It is important that I get at least six hours of sleep per night. I get up refreshed and ready to write. Get out in your environment and plug your batteries in and let them recharge. It is invaluable to your craft of writing.

Join a Local Writer's Group

I belong to a writer's group that has no name other than Writer's Group. There are four us that meet on a regular basis. Right now it is every other. Each of us has our own genre. As you know I write murder mysteries. Tim writes about international intrigue, military and travel logs. Bob writes plays. Jason right now is writing How To and Help Books and is breaking into Fiction for Children.

If you are not already a member of a writer's group I highly recommend that you find one. I don't suggest that you just pick one and join. I suggest that you shop for one like you do anything else. You have to have a certain comfort level with the other members.

The reason you want that comfort level is that you will want to have someone give you honest and important feedback. I have attended some that have given feedback that is all positive and "I like your stuff"  type of comments. That won't help you. I have attended those whose members feel they have the only solution on how to write and if you don't follow their ideas then you are an idiot. I would say run away from that type of group, don't walk.

All the members of my group are interested in two things, perfecting our craft and getting published. For us nothing else matters. I feel comfortable handing over my manuscripts in progress to make sure I stay true to the characters and I don't stray from the story line. When we meet, we talk about things like style, character development, use of dialog, how do successful writers do it, we also critique famous authors works and how they do it. We also talk about movies. The reason for that is how does one develop plot lines, scene development, character interaction, keeping characters honest with who they are.

This is an invaluable tool for any writer from inexperienced to consistently on the best seller list. It helps us to keep our books tight, on subject. It helps us to tell the reader only enough detail to keep their interest and let them become a part of the story. A good story will allow the reader to bring along their own experiences for the ride.

I Had a Dream Last Night

Yesterday, Saturday, February 02, 2013, I was down with the flu. It was to good old fashioned stomach flu none of those with any of the fancy names attached. I laid low and wonderful wife, Lynda kept me with ice water and toast for lunch. I sat down at the computer as she watched a little TV and I typed Chapter 07 of Pagan Mirth.

Sometime on this side of midnight, I started to dream. These dreams were full of action, color and ideas. Since I didn't get the opportunity to work on Chapter 08, my muse turned my thoughts to future projects. My next novel, of course I had to write the idea down first, is going to be a frozen variety. It is going to be a murder mystery in the frozen tundra of South Dakota in the middle of January and February, when the temperature tend to plummet well below zero on the Fahrenheit Scale.

I saw ice houses on frozen lakes with the hearty South Dakotans fishing. I saw wind-swept snows, I saw ice dangling from the hair of cattle and bison, I saw people walking like so many stuffed dolls with every part of their bodies layered against the life sucking cold. The worst parts of the dream came when I saw fingers of blood seeping across the snowy blanket like so many veins; it was almost like the snow was coming alive. Now who cannot come up with a story with visions like that dancing in your head all night?

I am curious, where does your inspiration come from? Do you even know? Tap into your dreams. Exploit the foibles of your friends. Take your worst experience and try to make it a comedy. As for me, I will take my dreams and the visits from my muses.

Pagan Mirth, a follow up

A few months ago, I started writing a new novel called Pagan Mirth. At first I used the working title of "The Far Side of Midnight". As I continued to write the book, that title didn't seem to fit. One night at my writer's group, I got a writing prompt of "Pagan Mirth". We had fifteen minutes to complete a story using our individual prompts as part of what were writing. This one morphed into a section of my budding novel, which is a murder mystery of course.

One of my compadres and got to talking about the direction my novel was going and we felt that prompt would make a much better title. The protagonists are a husband & wife detective team. Duncan and Charlie Scott are descendants of ancient Scot clans and whose families happened to settle in southeastern South Dakota. These families are are also descendant members of one of the oldest Gnostic Christian Sects, Cathar.

The story begins in Lincoln County, South Dakota. Duncan was driving home late and happened to take a country road that he normally didn't. It wasn't uncommon for him to change routes, just for the fun of it and to stay out of a routine. He drives up on a group of prairie scavengers. What he found was the mutilated bodies of two of their best friends. From there, it is found out that this murder was not only a new case; but it becomes a religious battle as well with one of their old nemesis, Rex Mundi and his demons.

This story has taken on a life of its own. As I write it, I am thinking it is going in direction A then suddenly my hand is directed by the characters and my two muses Yeshua and Mary Magdalene to change to direction B or C. It is amazing how much my faith is directing the writing of this book. For a long time, I have wanted to write a mystery novel with religious and spiritual overtones. This one is definitely fitting that bill.

I have just completed typing chapters five and six. My fingers are itching to start chapter seven. I find that like the reality of life (unpredictable) that I cannot write to a tight outline. My books tend to be as unpredictable, to a point. I know the beginning, the end and the general direction. The rest is up to my muses and the characters. I find my characters become as real as my wife, my children and my friends. I feel the characters grow, just like we do in real life. It is like I become personally involved in their lives just like we do when we socialize with friends and family.

Three Books Now in Paperback

I now have three of my titles available at Amazon.com for sale. Please stop by and take a look. I used Create Space to self publish them. The first one was difficult and the next two very easy. Here's the link to the page where you can find them all:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_i_0?rh=k%3Ascott+h+hendricks%2Ci%3Astripbooks&keywords=scott+h+hendricks&ie=UTF8&qid=1359346505

I also published them as E-books and have made 9 sales in the last 7 days. To think, that I am just beginning to market them.

My First Paperback is Now in Print

I have finally completed my CreateSpace.com novel "Theft of Innocence".

It is currently on sale at Create Space for $8.95. Here's the link: https://www.createspace.com/3335581
This has been quite the experience and I will be leaving future posts on how to do it yourself.

Writing and Sleep

Have you ever woken in the middle of the night, unable to sleep because your story is calling you? Have you ever had your story become your dream so vivid that when you wake you are exhausted?

If you can answer yes to either or both questions, then you have selected the right vocation. This morning, I woke at 3:15 AM CST. I told myself that I would roll over and sleep some more. I kept fooling myself until 4:00 AM. I got up took a shower, a hot & steamy shower since it was minus 6 degrees Fahrenheit outside with an 18 mph wind causing a wind-chill of minus 29 degrees. The steam, the heat running over my head caused me to think and to remember that while I was sleeping I was visited by my muse Maria (my older sister calls her Maggy); you know her as the Magdalene. She planted in my mind the beginning to my next chapter since I am nearly done with Chapter 05 of "Pagan Mirth".

"Pagan Mirth" is a murder mystery that is all about family, faith and calling. You and I have a calling to be writers, authors, poets, journalists. We have been given a talent by God and we need to use that talent. Sometimes that calls for us to rise from our slumber and write. What do we write? We write what our muses lends us in the way of words. I am a very visual person. As such, I picture the words on the page of my journal. The sentences dictated by Maria are highlight in the most beautiful crimson color you can imagine. Those dictated by her husband, who tags along every so often, are highlighted in the most stunning royal blue that there is no description to do it justice.

We each have our own method, our own vision, our own way of seeing what our muses tell us to write. It is just sometimes that sleep gets in the way!

Practicing Our Art, Our Craft

When was the last time your practice your art of writing, just for the fun of it? So far I have no comments left behind on my posts. So here is an opportunity.

The last time I practiced my art was this morning. It happens that I really like writing my current endeavor "Pagan Mirth". You may ask why. It is about my favorite subject of all time. It deals with history. It deals with the Holy Grail. I deals with all those medieval cyclical romances like King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. It deals with faith. It deals with how we practice our faith. It deals with mystery. It deals with family. It deals with genealogy. These are all subjects I really enjoy and participate in on a regular basis. So, I ask myself, "What's not to like about writing this book?" My answer is, "Not one blooming thing!"

With that in mind, I also like to take occasional detours. My detours are timed writings using a prompt. So here is our assignment. It requires discipline and honesty on your part. I want all of us to take the prompt at the end of the blog post and spend 15 minutes and write what ever comes to mind . Now here is where the discipline comes in Only Correct Your Spelling. Leave it Raw. Leave it Real. Leave it as something you think can lead to something else. Can you do it? It will be a challenge.

Let see how many we can accumulate by Tuesday, January 22, 2013 16:00 CST?

Here is the prompt:  "Her fingernails buried in my neck".

Using a Prologue as a Hook

On my previous post this evening, I mentioned hooks. What hooks the read to want to continue reading your wonderful words that ends up as a whole wonderful story. My personal preference is the Prologue. It gives me freedom to do some writing in the present tense; something I cannot carry through in my mystery/thriller books. I am going to post the Prologue of my first full length mystery story that I completed to publishing as an E-Book "The River of Tears". Below is that Prologue, let me know what you think. So far the people I know said it caused them to read further and a few of them were not fans of mysteries until then:

Prologue

She always dreamt of traveling the world. As she lay under the tree, she let her mind wander. She saw herself riding the prow of a large sailing yacht, face toward the sun, letting salty mist bathe her nude frame. The handsome hunk stuffed into bronzed skin at the helm was hers to bend to whatever whim breezed her way. Clouds slowly floated overhead hung from the blue canopy of heaven. The gentle roll of the Caribbean caressed her as the sun warmed every inch of her soul.

She had him stop in a lagoon on a small uncharted atoll. As the waves gently rocked them, strong fingers dug deeply into the muscles on her back and goose bumps flew out to the tips of her fingers and toes. In the next moment, she smiled back at the warm sun as she dove from the railing. With long strokes, the salty water kissed her smooth skin skimming the blue surface. The lush shore crept closer and the crisp citrus smells graced her senses as she slowed her pace. She switched to a strong but leisurely backstroke. She neared the breakwater and he was waiting for her with a skimpy towel.

A sharp pain screamed along the right side of her face. It yanked her out of her dreams. She instinctively moved her hand toward the source of her discomfort. A sudden jerk nearly broke her wrist mere inches from touching her face. She tried again to touch her cheek, this time the essence of cold steel cut into her wrist. Whimpering, she twisted her head toward her arm stretched above her head. As she turned, she contorted as stars exploded behind her eyes.

In desperation, she tried to pull her legs up to kneel, but they would not move. Ignoring the excruciating ache, she pulled on her left hand, which stopped midair with a hard jerk. In full panic, she pulled with all her might, first her hands then her feet. Shaking and writhing violently, she howled a cry that would send a pack of wolves scampering to the far reaches of the forest. Tears from her swollen eyes stung as they ran across her skin.

Painful sobs replaced her wails, as she became exhausted from her futile attempts to escape. Through the searing electric shocks produced from deep within her head, she heard the sounds of animals scurrying about, and felt warm rivers creeping down her arms, legs and just about every place else. She passed back into her dream, sailing the Caribbean under a blue Christmas sky and holding the hand of an angel.